1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to measuring the nonlinear transition shift (NLTS) in a magnetic data storage system and more particularly to determining NLTS in a high-density data store having a readback channel employing a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Introduction
In a typical recording channel, nonlinearities can occur for several different reasons during both writing and reading. Firstly, it is well-known that when closely-spaced data bits are written on a magnetic storage medium, such as a magnetic disk, the magnetic transition positions are shifted by the magnetostatic interactions between adjacent transitions. This shift, herein denominated nonlinear transition shift (NLTS), contributes to the total recording channel nonlinearity. The art is replete with descriptions of NLTS; for example, reference is made to Zhang et al., xe2x80x9cA Theoretical Study of Nonlinear Transition Shift,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.34, pp. 1955-1957, July 1998. For example, in FIG. 1, a dibit pair of flux transitions 30 and 32 are illustrated schematically as adjacent flux reversals separated by the bit cell length B in a recording medium 34. The NLTS is shown conceptually as a shift of d in flux transition 32 to a new position by virtue of the magnetostatic interactions between the transitions.
Secondly, a closely-adjacent recorded transition may also cause a transition broadening effect (TBE) during the writing of the next transition because of the consequential reduction in recording field gradient induced magnetostatically by the adjacent transition. Reduction of the recording field gradient broadens the width of the resulting transition in the recording medium. Moreover, as the transition spacing is reduced, causing two adjacent transitions to approach one another, the opposing magnetostatic potentials may locally annihilate one another in an unpredictable fashion; a condition herein denominated partial erasure (PE). As a result of PE, a single transition is broken into many transition segments or islands distributed over the locale intended for the single transition. PE arises gradually as transition spacing is reduced and is exacerbated in closely-spaced transitions because of TBE. The art is also replete with descriptions of TBE and PE; for example, reference is made to Che, xe2x80x9cNonlinearity Measurements and Write Precompensation Studies for a PRML Recording Channel,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.31, pp. 3021-3026, November 1995. Although the two nonlinear phenomena, PE and TBE, are different microscopically and arise from different causes, the resulting playback waveform distortions are similar and may together be reasonably assumed to be a single recording channel nonlinearity herein denominated as TBE/PE or simply PE.
Finally, the giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor is known to exhibit severe nonlinearity because of its nonlinear response to magnetic fields. During reading, this nonlinearity is manifested as a nonlinear transfer curve (NTC) of the GMR sensor. GMR heads are widely preferred in magnetic recording because of their high signal output levels compared to earlier MR heads and inductive heads, but their nonlinear signal response characterized by NTC is also well-known. The art is replete with descriptions of the transfer characteristics of magnetoresistive (MR) and GMR sensors; for example, reference is made to Cai, xe2x80x9cMagnetoresistive Read Nonlinearity Correction by a Frequency-Domain Approach,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.35, pp. 4532-4534, November 1999.
NLTS can largely degrade the performance of the partial-response maximum-likelihood (PRML) channel that is widely preferred in disk-drive read channels. A PRML detector expects playback waveforms to be composed of a linear superposition of isolated pulses (transition detections) and its performance is significantly degraded by nonlinear distortion of the playback pulses, whether from NLTS, TBE/PE or the NTC of a GMR readback sensor.
Fortunately, in the recording channel, the effects of NLTS can be reduced significantly by properly controlling the recording timing of each transition. In particular, it is possible to compensate for the NLTS effect by pre-shifting the transition positions during the write operation, but this requires some means for accurately measuring the NLTS for the particular write head, transition spacing and recording medium employed. There are several different methods known in the art for measuring NLTS. Currently, the most reliable and popular NLTS test method used in manufacturer testing lines at recording head companies is the fifth-harmonic elimination (5HE) method. However, the accuracy of 5HE NLTS measurements is significantly affected by the other two kinds of nonlinearity described above, TBE/PE and NTC. Because each of these three kinds of nonlinearity, NLTS, TBE/PE and NTC, arises from a different component, such as writer, reader or data storage medium, in a different manner during the recording process, it is very important for head designers to distinguish among them and to effectively measure each of them accurately and separately. The NLTS must be distinguished from the TBE/PE nonlinearities, which also can be minimized by imposing a lower limit on transition spacing. It is also possible to compensate for the NTC of a GMR sensor in the readback channel, provided that the NTC can be measured and distinguished from the other nonlinearities. Accordingly, the accurate testing and quantitative determination of each of these non-linearities in a playback waveform is important for optimizing performance of a PRML detector. A well-known problem in the art is how to accurately separate the contributions of each nonlinearity (NLTS, TBE/PE and NTC) from the overall nonlinear distortion that can be measured in the recording channel and the art is replete with proposals for measuring and compensating for these recording channel nonlinearities. Several useful testing methods have been developed in the art for characterizing playback waveform nonlinearities, which may be loosely classified as time-domain methods and frequency-domain methods.
The dominant time-domain technique for measuring NLTS, herein denominated the Pseudo-Random Sequence (PRS) Method, was first proposed by Palmer et al. (Palmer et al., xe2x80x9cIdentification of Nonlinear Write Effects Using a Pseudorandom Sequence,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol. 23, pp. 2377-2379, September 1987). By recording and reading a pseudorandom sequence (PRS) of transitions and then processing it with Fourier transform methods, the nonlinearities are identified from small perturbations or echoes, usually well-separated from the main linear part of the response of the system. The original pseudorandom sequence is deconvolved from the playback waveform to yield the linear dipulse response and any echoes arising from nonlinear effects. By measuring the amplitude of these echoes relative to the main dipulse response, the nonlinear distortion may be quantitatively assessed as a percentage of the primary dipulse signal level. This PRS method can be used to systematically analyze all nonlinear mechanisms and to characterize the entire recording channel. However, this method requires a sophisticated measurement procedure that includes complicated waveform triggering, data acquisition and manipulations. The exact original data sequence must be known to process the data. Any noise and the DC offset in the readback waveform may give rise to a considerable error with this method. In most cases only one nonlinear mechanism dominates and using this complex and difficult method is inefficient.
Other practitioners have proposed various improvements and simplifications to the original PRS method, often by suggesting useful assumptions about the various nonlinearity phenomena and simplifying the procedure to capitalize on the new assumptions. For example, Che et al. (Che et al., xe2x80x9cA Time-Correlation Method of Calculating Nonlinearities Utilizing Pseudorandom Sequences,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.30, pp. 4239-4241, November 1994) proposed a PRS method that relies on the assumption that the echoes are distant from the main dipulse and have the same shape. The validity of this assumption depends on write precompensation and PRS selection. In another example, Che et al. (Che et al., xe2x80x9cStudies of Nonlinear Bit Shift and Partial Erasure Using Pseudo-Random Sequence,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.29, pp. 3972-3974, November 1993) described a PRS method useful for estimating the separate contributions of NLTS and PE to recording channel nonlinearity by recognizing that the PE echo is separated by one-half bit cell from the NLTS echo when the PRS is carefully selected. As a further example, Mian (Mian, xe2x80x9cAn Algorithm for Real Time Measurement of Nonlinear Transition Shift by a Time Domain Correlation Analysis,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.31, pp. 816-819, January 1995) described an improved PRS technique that overcomes many of the practical deficiencies of the original Palmer et al. method by incorporating time-domain auto-correlation analysis and carefully selecting the PRS.
Generally, the accuracy of the PRS method depends on the ratio of the isolated pulse width (PW50) and the bit cell width (B). As PW50/B increases, PRS measurement accuracy increases, but the B/2 separation of NLTS and PE distortion echoes is soon swamped at the larger PW50 values. Accordingly, accurate measurement of total channel nonlinearity using the PRS method in the time domain must be traded against the accurate separation of NLTS and PE effects. The dominant frequency-domain technique for measuring NLTS, herein denominated the Harmonic Elimination (HE) Method for measuring NLTS was first proposed by Tang et al. (Tang et al., xe2x80x9cA Technique for Measuring Nonlinear Bit Shift,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.27, pp. 5316-5318, November 1991). The HE method relies on special bit patterns that do not contain a particular frequency component when the pattern is written without NLTS. The presence of NLTS gives rise to the particular frequency component in proportion to the amount of NLTS when NLTS is small relative to bit cell length. For example, the fifth harmonic component may be employed to measure NLTS (the 5HE method). If there exists some other nonlinearities, such as PE and NTC, the fifth harmonic component amplitude depends on not only NLTS but also PE and NTC. The PE and NTC errors in NLTS measurements using the 5HE method are more severe for GMR heads at higher recording densities. Therefore, it is more important than ever to have an effective way to correct for the effects of PE and NTC on NLTS measurements when using the 5HE method. The 5HE method proposed by Tang et al. provides only the total nonlinear distortion of the recording process and cannot distinguish the contributions of NLTS, PE or, indeed, the NTC of the MR sensor
The Fifth Harmonic Elimination (5HE) Measurement
To assist in the appreciation of the later description of the method of this invention, an exemplary description of the fifth Harmonic Elimination (5HE) method from the above-cited Tang et al. reference is now presented. Reference is made to the Glossary of Mathematical Symbols presented herein below.
The NLTS data pattern is a playback waveform that has a period of NT, where T is the bit cell duration (write clock period) in seconds and N is the total number of bits in one period of the NLTS pattern. The NLTS pattern is designed to measure the proximity-induced transition shift in a pair of transitions (a dibit or dipulse) by creating the conditions under which a linear superposition of the dipulse components cancels completely at a selected harmonic of the fundamental frequency, ƒ=1/NT in Hz. Any deviation from zero signal at the selected harmonic frequency arises only from nonlinearities in the channel.
The general form of the NLTS pattern is:
1100 . . . (m0""s)100 . . . (l0""s)1100 . . . (m0""s)100 . . . (l0""s),
where m=6M and l=6L, including the two 0""s shown, and M, L are integers. The number of 0""s in the pattern determines which harmonic represents the NLTS distortion (the NLTS harmonic number=2M+2N+1) and also determines the fundamental frequency of the NLTS measurement. According to the non-return-to-zero (NRZ) bit encoding convention, each xe2x80x981xe2x80x99 represents a magnetic transition, each xe2x80x980xe2x80x99 represents the absence of a flux transition, and each bit is separated by the write clock period, T=B/xcexd, where B is the bit cell length and xcexd is the linear velocity of the recording medium with respect to the writing gap of the head. For this example, the following overlapping 30-bit data patterns are defined:                     The        ⁢                  xe2x80x83                ⁢        NLTS        ⁢                  xe2x80x83                ⁢        Pattern                    110000001000000110000001000000                          The        ⁢                  xe2x80x83                ⁢        Reference        ⁢                  xe2x80x83                ⁢        Pattern                    000000001000000000000001000000      
Bit cell duration in seconds=T
Pattern period=30T (N=30)
Bit cells in reference pattern=15T
This NLTS Pattern can be characterized as a sum of the following three reference patterns:                               Y          D1                ⁢                  :                            100000000000000100000000000000                                    Y          D2                ⁢                  :                            010000000000000010000000000000                                    Y          S                ⁢                  :                            000000001000000000000001000000      
In the time domain, these patterns can be expressed as:
Y(t)=PD1(t)xe2x88x92PD2(txe2x88x92T+d)+PS(txe2x88x928T)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Eqn. 1]
where,
Y(t)=the NLTS pattern in the time domain,
YS(t)=the Reference pattern in the time domain,
P(t)=an isolated pulse in the time domain, and
d=the NLTS shift in seconds.
Referring to FIG. 2, the NLTS pattern is illustrated as a flux transition sequence 36 and a readback sensor output waveform 38, both of which are aligned with the bit sequence described above. The pattern can be appreciated as a sequence of dipulses exemplified by the dipulse 40 and single isolated pulses exemplified by the single pulse 42.
Assuming no readback sensor saturation (no NTC effects) and no partial erasure (PE) effects,
PD1(t)=PD2(t)=PS(t)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Eqn. 2]
After Fourier transformation, the amplitude of the fifth harmonic xcfx89 of the NLTS Pattern is
Y(xcfx89)=P(xcfx89)[1xe2x88x92eixcfx89(Txe2x88x92d)+eixcfx89(8T)]xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Eqn. 3]
where k=5,             F      ⁡              (        ω        )              =                  1                              2            ⁢                          xe2x80x83                        ⁢            π                              ⁢              ∫                              F            ⁡                          (              t              )                                ⁢                      ⅇ                          ⅈ              ⁢                              xe2x80x83                            ⁢              ω              ⁢                              xe2x80x83                            ⁢              t                                ⁢                      ⅆ            t                                ,      ω    =                            2          ⁢                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          π          ⁢                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          k                          30          ⁢                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          T                    =              π                  3          ⁢                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          T                      ,
and P(xcfx89) is the amplitude of the fifth harmonic of the Reference Pattern. The ratio of the fifth harmonic amplitude of the NLTS pattern to the fifth harmonic amplitude of the reference pattern is then:                                                                                           X                  ⁡                                      (                    ω                    )                                                  =                                ⁢                                                      Y                    ⁡                                          (                      ω                      )                                                                            P                    ⁡                                          (                      ω                      )                                                                                                                                              =                                ⁢                                  1                  -                                      ⅇ                                          ⅈ                      ⁢                                              xe2x80x83                                            ⁢                                                                        π                          ⁡                                                      (                                                          1                              -                                                              d                                /                                T                                                                                      )                                                                          /                        3                                                                              +                                      ⅇ                                          ⅈ                      ⁢                                              xe2x80x83                                            ⁢                      2                      ⁢                                              xe2x80x83                                            ⁢                                              π                        /                        3                                                                                                                                                                    ≅                                ⁢                                  Δ                  ⁢                                      xe2x80x83                                    ⁢                                      ⅇ                                          ⅈ                      ⁢                                              xe2x80x83                                            ⁢                      5                      ⁢                                              xe2x80x83                                            ⁢                                              π                        /                        6                                                                                                                                ⁢                  
                ⁢                              So            ⁢                          xe2x80x83                        ⁢                          "LeftBracketingBar"                              X                ⁡                                  (                  ω                  )                                            "RightBracketingBar"                                =                                    "LeftBracketingBar"                                                Y                  ⁡                                      (                    ω                    )                                                                    P                  ⁡                                      (                    ω                    )                                                              "RightBracketingBar"                        =            Δ                                              [Eqn.  -4]            
where the fifth harmonic ratio, xcex94=xcfx80d/3T and the desired NLTS in percent is equal to d/T=3xcex94/xcfx80.
Note that the order O (xcex942) term is neglected in arriving at Eqn. 4. Another problem with Eqn. 4 is that other nonlinear recording phenomena, including partial erasure (PE) and the saturation or nonlinear transfer curve (NTC) characteristic of the read sensor, are ignored even when they may have a significant effect on the accuracy of these results.
Other practitioners have proposed various improvements and simplifications to the original 5HE method, which is still the most reliable and popular NLTS test in the art. For example, Che et al. (Che et al., xe2x80x9cA Generalized Frequency Domain Nonlinearity Measurement Method,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.30, pp. 4236-4238, November 1994) proposed a generalized version of the original 5HE method that eliminated many inconveniences, such as the recording density dependency and the run-length-limited (RLL) code constraints. Later, Che (Che, xe2x80x9cNonlinearity Measurements and Write Precompensation Studies for a PRML Recording Channel,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.31, pp. 3021-3026, November 1995) proposed a new version of the HE method that allows the NLTS and PE effects to be separately measured by observing that a recorded square wave has no NLTS because the equally-spaced transitions are also equally shifted by the neighboring magnetostatic forces and remain equally separated by the bit cell width (B). Che proposed measuring the TBE/PE distortion alone in a square wave using a Third Harmonic Algorithm (3HA), measuring the combined TBE/PE and NLTS distortion using the generalized 5HE method, and computing the two separate TBE/PE and NLTS components. But like other practitioners, Che assumes that the odd-order components of the MR readback sensor NTC distortion can be ignored. As another example, Liu et al. (Liu et al, xe2x80x9cNovel Method for Real-Time Monitoring of Non-Linear Transition Shift,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.33, pp. 2698-2700, September 1997) proposed using a particular periodic bit pattern that combines dipulses and isolated pulses to measure NLTS and PE components of channel distortion in a single record and playback operation. Liu uses three adjacent odd harmonic components to extract NLTS from the total distortion, by adjusting the middle component according to a baseline extracted from the two side components, but is unable to measure the other distortion components. As yet another example, Cai (Cai, xe2x80x9cNew Frequency-Domain Technique for Joint Measurement of Nonlinear Transition Shift and Partial Erasure,xe2x80x9d IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol.35, pp. 4535-4537, November 1999) proposed using three specially-constructed periodic bit patterns in the HE method to simultaneously measure the NLTS and PE components of channel distortion. Cai specifically cautions that his method assumes that the odd-order components of the MR readback sensor NTC distortion can be ignored.
The 3HA method proposed by Che improves on the 5HE method of Tang et al. by accounting for the effects of PE on NLTS but he corrects for the amplitude reduction effects alone and does not consider the effects of pulse shape distortion. This method is now discussed in detail.
The Third Harmonic Algorithm (3HA) for Partial Erasure (PE) Measurement
To assist in the appreciation of the later description of the method of this invention, an exemplary description of the frequency-domain NLTS measurement method from the above-cited November 1995 reference by Che is now presented. Che""s NLTS measurement improvement includes a method for removing the effects of PE on the original 5HE NLTS measurements.
Step A: Define a Correction Factor as PE Factor Alpha (xcex1)
A unitless partial erasure (PE) correction factor xcex1 is defined by:
PD(t)=(1xe2x88x92xcex1(T))P0D(t),xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Eqn. 5]
where T is the bit cell duration in seconds, PE factor xcex1 is a function of T, PD(t) is the time-domain signal of a single pulse in the dipulse exhibiting partial erasure (PE) and P0D(t) is the time-domain signal of an ideal single pulse in the dipulse without PE. Because xcex1(T) is assumed to be independent of the fifth-harmonic frequency xcfx89 of the NLTS bit pattern, Fourier transformation yields:
PD(xcfx89)=(1xe2x88x92xcex1(T))P0(xcfx89)).xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Eqn. 6]
Step B: Measure the PE Factor Alpha with the Third Harmonic Algorithm (3HA)
The 3HA method proposed by Che for measuring PE factor xcex1 exploits intersymbol interference in a square wave and maybe appreciated by considering that, for a square wave, the magnetostatic interaction between adjacent transitions causes each transition to shift toward the previous one, so that the entire square wave is merely shifted equally by the NLTS amount. Therefore, NLTS cannot be observed in a square wave and the only waveform distortions that can be observed upon playback (other than read sensor distortion, if any) are the combination of PE and transition broadening effect (TBE). For a square wave signal,             V      ⁡              (        x        )              =                  ∑                  n          =                      -            ∞                                    +          ∞                    ⁢                                    (                          -              1                        )                    n                ⁢                              V            sp                    ⁡                      (                          x              -              nB                        )                                ,
where, Vsp is the single transition signal, B is the bit cell length and n is the transition number. After Fourier transformation,                                           V            ⁡                          (              k              )                                =                                                    V                sp                            ⁡                              (                k                )                                      ⁢                                          ∑                n                            ⁢                              ⅇ                                                      -                    ⅈ                                    ⁢                                      xe2x80x83                                    ⁢                                      n                    ⁡                                          (                                              kB                        -                        π                                            )                                                                                                          ,                            [                  Eqn          .                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          7                ]            
where k is the wave number such that k=xcfx89/xcexd=2xcfx80ƒ/xcexd, where xcexd is linear velocity. Using the xcex4 function,                                           V            ⁡                          (              k              )                                =                      2            ⁢                          k              0                        ⁢                                          V                sp                            ⁡                              (                k                )                                      ⁢                                          ∑                n                            ⁢                              δ                ⁡                                  (                                      k                    -                                                                  (                                                                              2                            ⁢                            m                                                    +                          1                                                )                                            ⁢                                              k                        0                                                                              )                                                                    ,                            [                  Eqn          .                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          8                ]            
where k0=xcfx80/B, because             ∑              n        =                  -          ∞                            +        ∞              ⁢          ⅇ                        -          ⅈ                ⁢                  xe2x80x83                ⁢        2        ⁢                  xe2x80x83                ⁢        π        ⁢                  xe2x80x83                ⁢        nx              =            ∑              n        =                  -          ∞                            +        ∞              ⁢                  δ        ⁡                  (                      x            -            m                    )                    .      
Therefore,
V(ƒ,2n+1)xe2x88x9dkƒVsp((2n+1)ƒ)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Eqn. 9]
where V(ƒ, 2n+1) is the amplitude of the (2n+1)th harmonic, ƒ is the fundamental frequency and kƒ is the wave number corresponding to ƒ.
According to Eqn. 9, for two square waves, one recorded at ƒ and the other recorded at 3ƒ, the fundamental harmonic component of the 3ƒ signal has three times the amplitude of the third harmonic component of the ƒ signal (by simple Fourier decomposition of a perfect square wave). This is so only when there is no waveform distortion present (no PE or TBE). FIG. 3 illustrates these two square waves as the flux transition sequence 44 recorded at ƒ and the flux transition sequence 46 recorded at 3ƒ along with the equivalent bit patterns.
For n=1,                     PE        =                                            V              ⁡                              (                                                      3                    ⁢                    f                                    ,                  1                                )                                                    3              ⁢                              V                ⁡                                  (                                      f                    ,                    3                                    )                                                              =                                                    k                                  3                  ⁢                  f                                                            3                ⁢                                  k                  f                                                      =            1.                                              [                  Eqn          .                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          10                ]            
As recording density increases (as ƒ increases), PE distortion will first appear in the recorded 3ƒ signal. If PE exists in the recorded 3ƒ signal, numerator V(3ƒ, 1) is reduced while denominator V(ƒ, 3) remains representative of the transform of the ideal isolated pulse P0(t) at ƒ. Then, PE is less than unity and, according to Eqn. 6:
PE=1xe2x88x922xcex1(T)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Eqn. 11]
where the factor of 2 accounts for the loss of amplitude from each of two adjacent transitions.
Measuring the ratio of the fundamental harmonic of the 3ƒ signal to the third harmonic of the ƒ signal yields PE, from which Eqn. 11 yields an experimental value for xcex1. Note that the PE value thus obtained relates to the PE distortion present at higher frequency, 3ƒ and not the lower frequency, ƒ.
Step C: Derive a New NLTS Formula, Replacing Eqn. 4, to Calculate xcex94 from X and xcex1.
An expression for NLTS may be derived from these results. Substituting Eqn. 6 into Eqn 4 yields:
X(xcfx89)=(1xe2x88x92xcex1)xe2x88x92(1xe2x88x92xcex1)exe2x88x92ixcex94xc2x7eixcfx80/3+ei2xcfx80/3.xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Eqn. 12]
If (1xe2x88x92xcex1)xcex94≈xcex94,                                           X            ⁡                          (              ω              )                                =                                    -                              (                                                                                                    3                                            2                                        ⁢                    Δ                                    +                                                            1                      2                                        ⁢                    α                                                  )                                      +                          i              ⁡                              (                                                                            1                      2                                        ⁢                    Δ                                    +                                                                                    3                                            2                                        ⁢                    α                                                  )                                                    ⁢                  
                ⁢                                            "LeftBracketingBar"                              X                ⁡                                  (                  ω                  )                                            "RightBracketingBar"                        2                    =                                    Δ              2                        +                                          3                            ⁢              α              ⁢                              xe2x80x83                            ⁢              Δ                        +                          α              2                                                          [                  Eqn          .                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          13                ]                                                                    Δ              2                        +                                          3                            ⁢              αΔ                        +                          (                                                α                  2                                -                                  X                  2                                            )                                =          0                ⁢                  
                ⁢                  Then          ,                                    [                  Eqn          .                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          14                ]                                Δ        =                                            -                                                3                                2                                      ⁢            α                    +                                    1              2                        ⁢                                                            4                  ⁢                                      xe2x80x83                                    ⁢                                      X                    2                                                  -                                  α                  2                                                                                        [                  Eqn          .                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢          15                ]            
After the fifth harmonic amplitude ratio X (see Eqn. 4) and the PE correction xcex1 (see Eqn. 11) are obtained experimentally, NLTS (in percent)=d/T=3xcex94/xcfx80 is calculated from Eqn. 15.
This completes the description of Che""s improved NLTS measurement method incorporating the 3HA method for PE measurement, which has been used successfully in the art to characterize NLTS in inductive and magnetoresistive (MR) heads. However, when applied to the GMR head at higher recording densities, the following three problems with this method become serious.
Problems with Existing NLTS Measurement Methods
Pulse Shape Distortion: Referring to Eqn. 5, note that PE amplitude reductions alone are considered and pulse distortion effects are ignored. Nonlinearity recording phenomena, including PE and sensor NTC effects, tend to distort the shape of pulses as well as reduce amplitude. The pulse shape distortion effect is greater than the amplitude reduction effect. In the frequency domain, this effect makes the PE factor xcex1 dependent on the fifth harmonic of the NLTS pattern frequency as well as the bit cell duration T where PE occurs. The neglect of this frequency dependence in Eqn. 6 gives rise to large errors in the PE factor xcex1. In particular, using a GMR sensor at higher recording densities causes larger values of xcex12 to be measured experimentally, such that xcex12 greater than 2X2. Under such conditions, Eqn. 15 has no solution.
GMR Saturation: As seen in FIG. 5, the nonlinearity of the GMR sensor transfer curve is usually much greater than the similar transfer curve for earlier MR sensors. FIG. 5 shows the measured GMR nonlinear transfer curve (NTC) for an exemplary 50 nm merged-head design for several values of GMR sensor bias current. The NTC 48 measured at 3 mA is more linear than the NTC 50 measured at 6 mA, but less output amplitude is available from NTC 48. The severely nonlinear GMR NTC affects the results of the 3HA measurement, as can be appreciated from FIG. 6, which shows the NLTS measured by the inventors in accordance with the prior art method of Eqn. 15 as a function of GMR bias current. It may be readily appreciated from the data in FIG. 6 that the increased NTC distortion at higher bias currents is erroneously measured by the method of Eqn. 15 as increased NLTS and the error is nearly 30%. Consequently, the denominator, V(ƒ, 3), of Eqn. 10 can no longer be accurately characterized as the third harmonic of an ideal isolated pulse. Accordingly, the correct value of PE factor xcex1 cannot be directly obtained from the simple 3HA measurement, even though the frequency dependency of PE factor xcex1 has been properly considered.
Second Order Effects: The expression in Eqn. 14 is only a first approximation and ignores second-order terms. For GMR head technology, the inventors have found Eqn. 14 to be insufficient for obtaining a reasonable PE factor xcex1. The solution, Eqn. 15 actually overcorrects the NLTS value to the point of uselessness, as demonstrated by the data of FIG. 6.
The purpose of making accurate NLTS measurements is to provide a guide for setting write precompensation parameters. The final tuning of write precompensation parameters should be accomplished using bit error rate (BER) measurements in a real partial-response maximum-likelihood (PRML) channel but the NLTS measurements provide an important and useful first approximation for PRML channel write precompensation parameters for the designer.
Accordingly, there is a clearly-felt need in the art for a reliable and accurate NLTS measurement technique that can distinguish between NLTS and TBE/PE distortion while accommodating the substantial harmonic components (both odd and even) of the NTC distortion and bit densities encountered with GMR sensor technology, which can no longer be ignored. Accurate NLTS measurements are need to permit precompensation during writing. Accurate TBE/PE measurements are required to certify the proposed data recording density for the medium and head under test. Accurate GMR NTC saturation measurements are need to permit postcompensation during reading. Moreover, these nonlinearities also affect other standard quality control (QC) measurements, such as pulse width (PW50), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), track average amplitude (TAA) and resolution, through interactions that may produce abnormal correlation among several testing parameters, such as PW50 with resolution or NLTS, NLTS with TAA, NLTS with SNR, and the like. These unresolved problems and deficiencies are clearly felt in the art and are solved by this invention in the manner described below.
This invention solves the above-described problems by introducing a new nonlinear transition shift (NLTS) measurement procedure for read/write heads employing a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) read sensor. The method of this invention arises from an unexpectedly advantageous observation that the effects of pulse-shape distortion and second-order effects from GMR nonlinear transfer characteristic (NTC), transition broadening and partial erasure (TBE/PE), may be incorporated in the NLTS measurement procedure to permit accurate isolation of the NLTS from the unrelated TBE/PE and GMR reader NTC.
It is an advantage and feature of the method of this invention that the accuracy of the NLTS measurements do not depend on TBE/PE levels nor on the NTC of the readback sensor.
It is another advantage and feature of the method of this invention that a new parameter, Beta, is obtained from the NLTS measurements for use in determining for the head under test the amount of any TBE/PE or NTC.
It is yet another advantage and feature of the method of this invention that after correcting for the effects of the measured nonlinearities, the remaining magnetic parameter measurements are again normally correlated, permitting effective characterization of magnetic head performance for quality control (QC) purposes.
In one aspect, the invention is a method for characterizing the non-linear transition shift (NLTS) of two adjacent magnetic flux transitions created in a magnetic storage medium at a clock rate of 1/T by a write head and reproduced from the magnetic storage medium by a read head, the method including the steps of performing a fifth harmonic elimination (5HE) test using a NLTS pattern having a bit period T to measure a first transition signal nonlinearity value X, performing a partial erasure (PE) test using a first square wave signal having a second bit period Tm greater than T and a second square wave signal having a third bit period 5Tm to measure a second transition signal nonlinearity value XS, performing a PE test using a third square wave signal having the bit period T and a fourth square wave signal having a fourth bit period 5T to measure a third transition signal nonlinearity value Xh, and computing the NLTS by combining the first, second and third transition signal nonlinearity values.
Although the existing partial erasure measurement is used in this invention, the way the measurements are interpreted and incorporated into correcting NLTS is unique to this invention because of the introduction of the effect of pulse-shape distortion due to recording nonlinearity.
The foregoing, together with other objects, features and advantages of this invention, can be better appreciated with reference to the following specification, claims and the accompanying drawing.